الاثنين، 7 نوفمبر، 2016

No More Free Ride: Tesla Will Charge For Supercharging On New Cars

Tesla’s electric vehicles aren’t cheap, but for years drivers have been able to charge up their Teslas quickly and for free at thousands of free Tesla Supercharger stations. This morning, the company announced all that free Supercharging will soon come to an end, at least for new cars.

Tesla says vehicles currently on the road will not be affected, nor will any new vehicles where the owner takes delivery of the car before April 1, 2017.

That means that the potentially hundreds of thousands of lower-cost Tesla Model 3 vehicles coming in 2018 will have to pay to use Supercharging stations. The company says charging for Supercharging will help it expand the number of stations available to owners.

To take some of the sting out of it, Tesla will give affected owners credit for 400 kWh (about 1,000 miles) of Supercharging per month. For some owners, this may cover their full monthly charging needs.

Tesla vehicles don’t need Supercharging to power up their batteries, but these stations work significantly faster than other options. According to Tesla, you can get up to 170 miles of driving range from just 30 minutes of Supercharging, whereas your typical public charging station will only give you around 10-15 miles of driving range in that same time.

“We will release the details of the program later this year, and while prices may fluctuate over time and vary regionally based on the cost of electricity,” says a statement from Tesla, “our Supercharger Network will never be a profit center.”